AI-Assisted Metacognitive Disconnect a Study of Female EFL Learners’ Writing

Abstract

This study compares the relationship between EFL learners' metacognitive awareness of the strengths, weaknesses, and the quality of their writing under AI-assisted versus non-AI-assisted conditions. The study used a quasi-experimental, repeated-measures design with 63 university-level EFL learners who completed argumentative writing tasks under both conditions in a common timeframe. Two EFL professionals evaluated the anonymized submissions after each writing session using a rubric comprising four criteria. Results indicated significant benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) in essay writing with disparate scores between learners’ performance when they utilized AI (M= 11.06) compared to when there was no AI support (M= 8.21), with an effect size of d= 1.29. Survey results indicated learners’ satisfaction with the results achieved using AI (M= 7.25) compared to those achieved without it (M= 5.48). From the evaluators' perspective, however, there was no significant qualitative difference between the two sets of essays.  Another significant finding pertained to learners’ perception of AI as a tool that improved the quality of their writing though with concerns of over-dependence on it which can be inferred as an indication of metacognitive disconnect.